Method and apparatus to visualize locations of radio frequency identification (rfid) tagged items

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus to visualize locations of radio frequency identification (RFID) tagged items are described. One example method includes receiving a request from a portable electronic device to access product information associated with an individual radio frequency identification (RFID) tagged item, determining a location of the product information in a database, transmitting the located product information to the portable electronic device for display thereon, receiving modified product information associated with the individual RFID tagged item from the portable electronic device, and storing the modified product information to the location of the product information in the database.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/168,559, filed May 31, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,898,770, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/635,802, filed Mar.2, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,411,996, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/059,249, filed Oct. 21, 2013, now U.S.Pat. No. 8,970,379, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/567,917, filed Aug. 6, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,564,441,which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/186,269,filed Jul. 19, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,237,564, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/603,365, filed Oct.21, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,986,239, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/673,829, filed Feb. 12, 2007, now U.S.Pat. No. 7,639,138. All of the above-referenced applications are hereinincorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This disclosure relates generally to radio frequency identification(RFID) systems and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus tovisualize locations of RFID tagged items.

BACKGROUND

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is used to track largequantities of products. An RFID system typically includes an RFID tagthat is secured to an object and is interrogated by a scanner, orreader, configured with a transceiver. The transceiver transmitselectromagnetic waves that are received by an antenna and a microchipembedded on the RFID tag. The microchip includes an embedded code, oridentification (ID), and is activated by the electromagnetic waves andoutputs electromagnetic waves at another frequency to send a returnsignal to the transceiver. The return signal in the electromagneticwaves includes a copy of the code embedded in the microchip. Thetransceiver converts the received waves from RFID tags into digital datarepresentative of the codes embedded in each RFID tag corresponding to areceived wave. The digital data is analyzed to distinguish RFID tagsfrom one another when multiple tags are scanned due to the embeddedcodes in the tags and their associated signals.

RFID systems can use different types of RFID tags. The two common typesare passive and active RFID tags. A passive RFID tag draws power fromthe electromagnetic energy provided by the transceiver to power themicrochip's circuits. On the other hand, active RFID tags have aninternal energy source (e.g., a battery) that powers the microchipinside the tag. Active RFID tags are typically more expensive than theirpassive counterparts; however, active RFID tags have a much greater readrange than passive tags. That is, active RFID tags may be read atgreater distances from the transceiver than may be passive RFID tags.Typically, the application of the RFID system dictates whether an activeor a passive tag should be used in the system.

Frequently, RFID tagged items are misplaced or data regarding thelocation of a product associated with a particular RFID tag is notsufficiently precise to facilitate easy product location andidentification in a storage area. When this occurs, time is wastedsearching for a particular item or product unit. More specifically, thegeneral location of a product is known via the RFID transceiver, but theprecise physical location of the product is difficult to determine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example RFID system including an exampleportable electronic device to read received RF wave angles from RFIDtags.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing examples of portable electronic devicescapable of being used in the example RFID system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram representative of an example system forlocating RFID tagged items, such as may be implemented using the exampleportable electronic devices of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart representative of an example method of processingthe received information to overlay information associated with an RFIDtagged item on an image.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example processor system that may beused to implement the example apparatus and methods described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The example system discussed herein expands current RFID technology. Thedescribed RFID system increases the accuracy and ease of locating RFIDtagged items and combines visual information to provide a user with avisual representation of located products items and/or informationassociated with the RFID tagged items. In one example, the location ofthe RFID tag is determined at a portable electronic device bycalculating a distance and lateral position by processing RF waves and,in one particular example, the angles at which the RF waves arereceived. In additional examples, the system includes a portableelectronic device, such as, for example, a pair of goggles or a handhelddevice, including a transparent display to view the RFID item. Thetransparent display allows the user to view the background areasurrounding the item while viewing product information associated withan RFID tagged item, wherein the associated information is retrievedfrom a database having entries associated with the code stored in anRFID tag.

The portable electronic device is also configured with a communicationchannel to transfer information to and receive information from thedatabase. The product information from the database and the informationassociated with the location of RFID tagged item will be processed suchthat the portable electronic device will display, to a user, asuperimposed image of the product information over the background area.Thus, a user may view product information as being superimposed overview of the tagged item.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example RFID system 100 including an exampleportable electronic device 102 to read received RF wave angles from RFIDtags, two of which are generally referred to using reference numerals104 and 106. The example portable electronic device 102 includes anantenna 108 to send signals to and receive signals from RFID tags 104and 106. The portable electronic device 102 includes an internaltransceiver 110 to locate RFID tags 104 and 106. In one example, theRFID tags 104 and 106 each contain an integrated circuit 112 and 114that is coupled with an antenna 116 and 118 to transmit data. The RFIDtags 104 and 106 also contain memory 120 and 122 that stores informationassociated with an identification code and other data to be transmittedwhen the RFID device is activated or interrogated using electromagneticenergy 124 and 126 from the portable electronic device 102.

In the example of FIG. 1, the portable electronic device 102 includesthe antenna 108, the transceiver 110, a keypad 128, and a display screen130. The keypad 128 enables a user to input or select a RFID tag whenperforming search for a particular item. In addition, the keypad 128 isconfigured to allow the user to filter-out or select multiple RFID tags104 and 106, and is further configured to enable the user to update ormodify information associated with individual RFID tags stored on adatabase 132.

The database 132 may store any number of different pieces ofinformation. For example, the database 132 may store a listing of RFIDtag identifiers, along with product information to which the RFID tagidentifiers correspond. The database 132 may store information such asproduct descriptions, available quantities, manufacturer names, modelnumbers, catalog numbers, price, or any other type of information thatmay be tied to the RFID tag identifier.

When the portable electronic device 102 is first initiated, the user mayinput information corresponding with a particular RFID tag. For example,the user can input a product name, part number, RFID address, etc. usingthe keypad 128. The keypad 128 enables the user to enter multiple searchcriteria to limit the search. With the search criteria in place, theportable electronic device 102 scans an area based on the searchcriteria. Once the portable electronic device 102 receives responsesfrom local RFID tags 104 and 106 via an antenna 108, the user may selectindividual tags or filter out multiple tags related to products shownwithin the display screen 130. This will isolate the individual productitems that are relevant to the search. Furthermore, as each item isfound, the user may update information on the database 132 by keying-ininformation associated with a particular tagged item on the keypad 128.

As shown in the example of FIG. 1, the electronic device 102 includesthe antenna 108 and the transceiver 110 to transmit and receiveselectromagnetic energy 124 and 126 to communicate with RFID tags 104 and106. When electromagnetic energy 124 and 126 couples with the antennas116 and 118 on RFID tags 104 and 106, the microchips 112 and 114modulate the electromagnetic waves 124 and 126 and the tag (e.g., thetag 104 and/or 106) transmits a return signal to the device 102. Thereturned electromagnetic energy 124 or 126 can contain information, suchas the identification number, product information, or any other datastored on the memory 120 or 122 of the RFID tag 104 and/or 106.

The portable electronic device 102 receives the returned electromagneticenergy 124 or 126 from the RFID tags 104 and 106 and converts thereceived waves into digital data. In an example, the digital data isprocessed to determine the location of the tagged items using the waveangles received on the antenna 108. Theses wave angles will be used todetermine the distance and lateral position of the RFID tags 104 and106. Additionally, the received waves are analyzed to extract theidentification number from an RFID tag. Other wave characteristics suchas time delay, amplitude change, and other characteristics may also becalculated to verify the location of the RFID tags 104 and 106. Theinformation obtained in processing the received waves will be configuredfor display 130 on the portable electronic device 102. The display orscreen 130 is configured to display the location of the processed waveangles that visually represent the location of RFID tags 104 and 106, aswell as product information to a user, discussed further in conjunctionwith FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing examples of portable electronic devicescapable of being used in an RFID system, such as the RFID system 100 ofFIG. 1. The examples depicted in FIG. 2, are configured with asubstantially transparent display to show the information associatedwith the RFID tag superimposed over the background including a producthaving an RFID tag being scanned. A first example includes a hand helddevice 200. During use, a user can hold the device 200 at eye level orwithin the line of sight of the viewer and see through substantiallytransparent display, for example, RFID tagged items stored on shelves.While viewing RFID tagged items through the substantially transparentdisplay, the hand held device 200 scans for RFID tags that are withinthe field of view of the substantially transparent display. When RFIDtags are found, the hand held device 200 retrieves informationassociated with the RFID tagged items and displays such information onthe substantially transparent display. The information associated withthe RFID tagged items may be displayed on the substantially transparentdisplay in proximity 10 the RFID tagged items such that a user can viewthe product storage areas and information may be superimposed over theview of the storage area in such a way that identification of certainitems in view is presented. The identification may include additionalinformation related to the tagged product such as manufacturer, modelnumber, quantity, price, etc.

Another example form factor for a portable electronic device 102 may bea headset or a pair of goggles 202. Of course, other form factors ofportable electronic devices may be provided. In any case, an overlayingimage, also known as a heads-up display (HUD) enables a user toprecisely locate a RFID tagged item and provides opportunity to presentadditional information associated with the RFID tagged item.

A HUD is any type of display that presents data without blocking theuser's view. This technique was pioneered for military aviation and isnow used in commercial aviation, motor vehicles, and other applications.The HUD can be integrated into glasses or goggles 202 or can be a standalone screen, in which the display element moves with the user's head.Such an arrangement is based on a monitoring of the user's direction ofsight and a determination of the appropriate image to be presented. Thatis, the portable electronic device 102 monitors the direction a user islooking and determines the RFID tag information to be displayed and theposition in which it is to be displayed. Such an arrangement enables auser to be presented with additional information on a display screen ina position related to the location that the RFID tagged item is seen inthe display screen 204 or 206.

HUDs include a display element 204 and 206 which is largely transparent,meaning the information is displayed in contrasting superposition overthe user's unobstructed view. A common technique by which current HUDsare implemented is to project an image onto a clear glass opticalelement called a combiner. Current display technologies that have beendemonstrated include, liquid crystal (LC), liquid crystal on silicon(LCoS), digital micro-mirrors (DMDs), organic light-emitting diode(OLED) and lasers. As shown in FIG. 2, the display 204 and 206 depictsan image of an item 210. An enlarged view of the display 208 shows theitem 210 and the information associated with the item on a label 212.The label 212 can include an RFID number, product information, or anyother information associated with the item 210. The label 212 may be anon-screen graphic or any other suitable video overlay.

Although the foregoing has described portable electronic devices asincluding transparent displays enabling information related to RFIDtagged items to be displayed in proximity to where those items areviewed through the display, this is not necessarily the case. Forexample, a portable electronic device could use a conventional displayscreen such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or any other displayscreen technology in conjunction with a video capture device, such as aminiature video camera or the like. In such an arrangement, a userpoints the portable electronic device toward an area to be viewed andthe camera captures images that are displayed on the display screen. Theportable electronic device detects the RFID tags associated with itemson the displayed image and presents such information to the user byinserting the information on the display screen in proximity to the RFIDitems presented on the video display.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram representative of an example system 300 forlocating RFID tagged items, which may be used in any of the portableelectronic devices shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Turning to FIG. 3, an RFIDlocator 302 receives from one or more RFID tagged items to be processedan input or electromagnetic energy via an antenna. A wave angleprocessor 304 operates on the received electromagnetic energy to performcalculations associated with the received electromagnetic energy waves.The location identifier 306, using the calculations from wave angleprocessor 304, determines the distance and lateral position of eachinput to the RFID tag locator 302.

In one example, after a reader has completed a scan for RFID tags,within proximity of the reader, an index is generated with an entry foreach tag containing the received wave angles. In addition to the RFIDtagged item in question, the wave angle processor 304 may analyze thereceived waves from one or more adjacent tags in order to compare orreference multiple wave angles. This additional wave information may beused by the location identifier 306 to triangulate the position orlocation of an individual RFID tag, using multiple received waves asestablished reference points.

Furthermore, the input or electromagnetic energy associated with an RFIDtag will be used by the RFID processor 308 to obtain the identificationnumber of an RFID tag. The identification number determined by the RFIDprocessor 308 may then be sent (e.g., via communication channel) to adatabase 310. The information generated at the RFID processor 308 can beused to reference information stored in the database 310, and theinformation may also be updated each time an RFID identification numberis referenced. Additionally, the database 310 may be configured to benetworked to the portable unit via, for example, the Internet. A centraldatabase may be accessed by various branches of a distribution system,thereby providing not only information related to product on hand, butproviding information regarding product availability within a network.Once the information is referenced from the database 310, it is sentback through the communication channel to the RFID processor 308 so thatit can be further processed for display.

The information generated by the RFID tag locator 302 and the RFIDprocessor 308 are then sent to an information processor 312. Theinformation associated with the location of the calculated RF waves, thereference from the RFID tag, and the data from the database 310 arecombined by the information processor 312 and configured for display toa user by an LCD controller 314. The LCD controller 314 is configured topresent the information associated with the RFID tag on screen for HUD.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart representative of an example process 400 ofprocessing the received information to overlay the RFID tag informationon an image. FIG. 4 represents example processes that may be implementedusing hardware and/or machine readable instructions comprising a programfor execution by a processor (e.g., the processor 502 shown in theexample processor system 500 of FIG. 5). Such program(s) may be embodiedin software stored on a tangible medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk,a hard drive, a digital versatile disk (DVD), or a memory associatedwith the processor 502 and/or embodied in firmware and/or dedicatedhardware in a well-known manner. For example, the process of FIG. 4 maybe implemented using any form of logic, digital or otherwise.Additionally, some aspects of the process 400 may be carried outmanually. Further, although the example processes are described withreference to the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 4, persons of ordinaryskill in the art will readily appreciate that many other methods ofimplementing the example methods may alternatively be used. For example,the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of theblocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined. Further, someor all of the blocks may be performed manually.

As shown in FIG. 4, the location of the RFID tagged item will bedetermined by processing the characteristics of the returnedelectrometric energy from the RFID tagged items. The circuitry of theRFID tag returns an electromagnetic signal back to the transceiver ofthe electronic device. The return RF waves are received and areprocessed to determine the location of the RFID tag, including wavecharacteristics (i.e., wave angles) extracted from each received wave(block 402). In addition, the identification number assigned to an RFIDtag is obtained and sent to a database as a reference (block 404). Thedatabase will update the information associated with each product (e.g.,location, quantity, reference number, etc.). The database may provideadditional information related to the tagged items and that suchinformation may be retrieved and presented for display. In addition, thedatabase may be configured to be networked via, for example, theInternet or to a central database to be accessed by various branches ofa distribution system. In this manner, any additional RFID taginformation stored may be processed in association with the data storedon the database (block 404).

As shown in FIG. 2, the information presented to a user may beconfigured to include the data from the processed wave angles, the RFIDidentification, and the referenced information from the database.Turning to FIG. 4, additional processing is required so that eachidentified tag corresponds to the established location, and displayedwith the location is the information from the identification number andthe database (block 406). This processed information continuouslyupdates with new information as each scan locates additional RFID tags.The processed information associated with an RFID tagged item is thendisplayed on the portable electronic device to a user (block 408).

Inside the portable electronic device 102, shown in FIG. 1, includes amicroprocessor with functions that include decoding and performingsimple calculations (i.e. adding, subtracting, multiplying anddividing). The processor. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exampleprocessor system 500 that may be used to implement the example apparatusand methods described herein. As shown in FIG. 5, the processor system500 includes a processor 502 that is coupled to an interconnection bus504. The processor 502 includes a register set or register space 506,which is depicted in FIG. 5 as being entirely on-chip, but which couldalternatively be located entirely or partially off-chip and directlycoupled to the processor 502 via dedicated electrical connections and/orvia the interconnection bus 504. The processor 502 may be any suitableprocessor, processing unit or microprocessor. Although not shown in FIG.5, the system 500 may be a multi-processor system and, thus, may includeone or more additional processors that are identical or similar to theprocessor 502 and that are communicatively coupled to theinterconnection bus 504.

The processor 502 of FIG. 5 is coupled to a chipset 508, which includesa memory controller 510 and an input/output (I/O) controller 512. As iswell known, a chipset typically provides I/O and memory managementfunctions as well as a plurality of general purpose and/or specialpurpose registers, timers, etc. that are accessible or used by one ormore processors coupled to the chipset 508. The memory controller 510performs functions that enable the processor 502 (or processors if thereare multiple processors) to access a system memory 514 and a massstorage memory 516.

The system memory 514 may include any desired type of volatile and/ornon-volatile memory such as, for example, static random access memory(SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), flash memory, read-onlymemory (ROM), etc. The mass storage memory 516 may include any desiredtype of mass storage device including hard disk drives, optical drives,tape storage devices, etc.

The I/O controller 512 performs functions that enable the processor 502to communicate with peripheral input/output (I/O) devices 518 and 520and a network interface 522 via an I/O bus 524. The I/O devices 518 and520 may be any desired type of I/O device such as, for example, akeyboard, a video display or monitor, a mouse, etc. The networkinterface 522 may be, for example, an Ethernet device, an asynchronoustransfer mode (ATM) device, an 802.11 device, a DSL modem, a cablemodem, a cellular modem, etc. that enables the processor system 500 tocommunicate with another processor system.

While the memory controller 510 and the I/O controller 512 are depictedin FIG. 5 as separate functional blocks within the chipset 508, thefunctions performed by these blocks may be integrated within a singlesemiconductor circuit or may be implemented using two or more separateintegrated circuits.

At least some of the above described example methods and/or apparatusare implemented by one or more software and/or firmware programs runningon a computer processor. However, dedicated hardware implementationsincluding, but not limited to, application specific integrated circuits,programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices can likewise beconstructed to implement some or all of the example methods and/orapparatus described herein, either in whole or in part. Furthermore,alternative software implementations including, but not limited to,distributed processing or component/object distributed processing,parallel processing, or virtual machine processing can also beconstructed to implement the example methods and/or apparatus describedherein.

It should also be noted that the example software and/or firmwareimplementations described herein are optionally stored on a tangiblestorage medium, such as: a magnetic medium (e.g., a magnetic disk ortape); a magneto-optical or optical medium such as an optical disk; or asolid state medium such as a memory card or other package that housesone or more read-only (non-volatile) memories, random access memories,or other re-writable (volatile) memories; or a signal containingcomputer instructions. A digital file attached to e-mail or otherinformation archive or set of archives is considered a distributionmedium equivalent to a tangible storage medium. Accordingly, the examplesoftware and/or firmware described herein can be stored on a tangiblestorage medium or distribution medium such as those described above orsuccessor storage media.

To the extent the above specification describes example components andfunctions with reference to particular standards and protocols, it isunderstood that the scope of this patent is not limited to suchstandards and protocols. For instance, each of the standards forInternet and other packet switched network transmission (e.g.,Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/Internet Protocol (IP), UserDatagram Protocol (UDP)/IP, HyperText Markup Language (HTML), HyperTextTransfer Protocol (HTTP)) represent examples of the current state of theart. Such standards are periodically superseded by faster or moreefficient equivalents having the same general purpose. Accordingly,replacement standards and protocols having the same general purpose areequivalents to the standards/protocols mentioned herein, andcontemplated by this patent, are intended to be included within thescope of the accompanying claims.

This patent contemplates examples wherein a device is associated withone or more machine readable mediums containing instructions, orreceives and executes instructions from a propagated signal so that, forexample, when connected to a network environment, the device can send orreceive voice, video or data, and communicate over the network using theinstructions. Such a device can be implemented by any electronic devicethat provides voice, video and/or data communication, such as atelephone, a cordless telephone, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, aPersonal Digital Assistant (PDA), a set-top box, a computer, and/or aserver.

Additionally, although this patent discloses example software orfirmware executed on hardware and/or stored in a memory, it should benoted that such software or firmware is merely illustrative and shouldnot be considered as limiting. For example, it is contemplated that anyor all of these hardware and software components could be embodiedexclusively in hardware, exclusively in software, exclusively infirmware or in some combination of hardware, firmware and/or software.Accordingly, while the above specification described example methods andarticles of manufacture, persons of ordinary skill in the art willreadily appreciate that the examples are not the only way to implementsuch methods and articles of manufacture. Therefore, although certainexample methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture have beendescribed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limitedthereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus andarticles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the appendedclaims either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.

1. A method comprising: processing, by a processor of a portableelectronic device, a plurality of received radio frequency waves todetermine a location of a first radio frequency identification taggeditem of a plurality of radio frequency identification tagged items,where each of the plurality of received radio frequency waves isassociated with a different one of the plurality of radio frequencyidentification tagged items; identifying, by the processor, productinformation associated with the first radio frequency identificationtagged item; and displaying, by the processor, on a display the firstradio frequency identification tagged item along with the productinformation.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location comprises adistance and a lateral position.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein thelocation is further determined from a time delay of each of theplurality of received radio frequency waves.
 4. The method of claim 2,wherein the location is further determined from an amplitude change ofeach of the plurality of received radio frequency waves.
 5. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: receiving the product information from adatabase.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein at least one of theplurality of received radio frequency waves is processed to extract anidentification number to reference the first radio frequencyidentification tagged item.
 7. The method of claim 5, furthercomprising: using a wireless communication channel to facilitatecommunication between the processor and the database.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the product information is displayed as a labelassociated with the first radio frequency identification tagged item. 9.The method of claim 5, wherein the receiving the product informationincludes receiving an identification number for the first radiofrequency identification tagged item.
 10. The method of claim 9, whereinthe product information further includes a product description.
 11. Themethod of claim 9, wherein the product information further includes anavailable quantity.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the productinformation further includes a manufacturer name.
 13. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the product information further includes a modelnumber.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein the product informationfurther includes a catalog number.
 15. The method of claim 9, whereinthe product information further includes a price.
 16. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the display comprises a transparent display.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, wherein the transparent display comprises a pair ofgoggles.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein the transparent displaycomprises a pair of glasses.
 19. A portable electronic device,comprising: a display; a processor; and a computer readable mediumstoring a plurality of instructions which, when executed by theprocessor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operationscomprising: processing a plurality of received radio frequency waves todetermine a location of a first radio frequency identification taggeditem of a plurality of radio frequency identification tagged items,where each of the plurality of received radio frequency waves isassociated with a different one of the plurality of radio frequencyidentification tagged items; identifying product information associatedwith the first radio frequency identification tagged item; anddisplaying on the display the first radio frequency identificationtagged item along with the product information.
 20. A tangiblecomputer-readable medium storing a plurality of instructions which, whenexecuted by a processor of a portable electronic device, cause theprocessor to perform operations, the operations comprising: processing aplurality of received radio frequency waves to determine a location of afirst radio frequency identification tagged item of a plurality of radiofrequency identification tagged items, where each of the plurality ofreceived radio frequency waves is associated with a different one of theplurality of radio frequency identification tagged items; identifyingproduct information associated with the first radio frequencyidentification tagged item; and displaying on a display the first radiofrequency identification tagged item along with the product information.